U.S. patent number 7,865,066 [Application Number 10/269,765] was granted by the patent office on 2011-01-04 for video camera and video camera information recording method for managing a scene as a chapter.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Hitachi, Ltd.. Invention is credited to Yukio Isobe, Susumu Yoshida.
United States Patent |
7,865,066 |
Isobe , et al. |
January 4, 2011 |
Video camera and video camera information recording method for
managing a scene as a chapter
Abstract
Disclosed are: an information recording technology capable of
shortening the termination process time when the recording ends;
and an information recording technology capable of recording
independently of limitations due to the maximum number of video
title sets and titles, wherein information is recorded on a
recording medium according to recording instructions such as a
recording start instruction and a recording stop instruction.
During a finalization process, management information is generated
and is recorded on the recording medium. Based on this management
information, the information generated by a single recording
instruction is managed as one chapter. At least one chapter is
managed as one title. At least one title is managed as one video
title set.
Inventors: |
Isobe; Yukio (Yokohama,
JP), Yoshida; Susumu (Kawasaki, JP) |
Assignee: |
Hitachi, Ltd. (Tokyo,
JP)
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Family
ID: |
27667522 |
Appl.
No.: |
10/269,765 |
Filed: |
October 11, 2002 |
Prior Publication Data
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Document
Identifier |
Publication Date |
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US 20030152369 A1 |
Aug 14, 2003 |
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Foreign Application Priority Data
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Feb 13, 2002 [JP] |
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2002-034807 |
Aug 8, 2002 [JP] |
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2002-230751 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
348/239;
369/47.1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04N
9/8042 (20130101); G11B 27/34 (20130101); G11B
27/329 (20130101); G11B 27/36 (20130101); G11B
27/034 (20130101); G11B 2220/2562 (20130101); H04N
5/85 (20130101); G11B 2220/218 (20130101); H04N
9/8205 (20130101); G11B 2220/213 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
H04N
5/00 (20060101); H04N 7/00 (20060101); H04N
5/91 (20060101) |
Field of
Search: |
;386/1-126
;358/310,342,343,335 ;360/48,55,72.1,121 ;369/47,56,30.04,47.1
;371/37.4 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
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05-198141 |
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Aug 1993 |
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JP |
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07-121311 |
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May 1995 |
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JP |
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11-185453 |
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Jul 1999 |
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JP |
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11-215466 |
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Aug 1999 |
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JP |
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11-232792 |
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Aug 1999 |
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JP |
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11-259957 |
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Sep 1999 |
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JP |
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11-288580 |
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Oct 1999 |
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JP |
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11-328929 |
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Nov 1999 |
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JP |
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2000-082276 |
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Mar 2000 |
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JP |
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2000-090651 |
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Mar 2000 |
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JP |
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2000-307987 |
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Nov 2000 |
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JP |
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2001-043617 |
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Feb 2001 |
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JP |
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2001-054041 |
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Feb 2001 |
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JP |
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2001-054065 |
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Feb 2001 |
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JP |
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2001-084706 |
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Mar 2001 |
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JP |
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2001-266496 |
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Sep 2001 |
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JP |
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2001-266544 |
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Sep 2001 |
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JP |
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2001-352521 |
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Dec 2001 |
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JP |
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2002-027381 |
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Jan 2002 |
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JP |
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2002-152636 |
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May 2002 |
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JP |
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WO01/01416 |
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Jan 2001 |
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WO |
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Other References
Japan Patent Office (JPO) office action for JPO patent application
JP2007-026394 (Feb. 12, 2008). cited by other.
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Primary Examiner: Tran; Thai
Assistant Examiner: Dang; Hung Q
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Townsend and Townsend and Crew
LLP
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A video camera to start recording information on a recording
medium according to a recording start instruction and stop
recording information on a recording medium according to a
recording stop instruction, the video camera comprising: a signal
processing module which generates management information for
managing the information recorded on the recording medium using
management units of chapters, titles where each title includes
plural chapters, and video title sets where each video title set
includes plural titles, wherein the number of the recordable video
title sets on the recording medium are limited; and a recording
module which records the information and the management information
on the recording medium; wherein; when the information is recorded
on the recording medium in accordance with a maximum limitation on
the number of the video title sets and the titles that can be
managed on the recording medium, the video camera makes the
information of one scene recorded on the recording medium
correspond to the chapter and makes the number of the recordable
scenes on the recording medium be more than the maximum number of
the video title sets and the titles, wherein the information of one
scene corresponding to the chapter comprises information recorded
from a single recording start instruction to a single recording
stop instruction, the recorded chapters are not allocated to any
video title set until a finalization process is performed in
response to a single finalization instruction from a user, and the
number of chapters in each of the video title sets is determined
and based on a number of information recorded on the recording
medium from a single recording start to a single recording stop
during said finalization process, such that the number of chapters
is greater than or equal to a maximum number of the video title
sets which are able to be recorded on the recording medium, and the
chapter is subdivided from the title, wherein the information of
one scene is made to correspond to the chapter when the information
of one scene is recorded on the recording medium.
2. The video camera according to claim 1, wherein when the amount
of the information upon reception of a recording stop instruction
is smaller than an integral multiple of a specified recording unit
for the recording medium, the information is recorded in alignment
to adjust the amount of the information to an integral multiple of
the specified recording unit for the recording medium.
3. The video camera according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of
chapters of information recorded on the same date is managed as one
title.
4. An information recording method of a video camera to start
recording information on a recording medium according to a
recording start instruction and stop recording information on a
recording medium according to a recording stop instruction, the
method comprising: a first step of generating management
information which manages the information recorded on the recording
medium using management units of chapters, titles where each title
includes plural chapters, and video title sets where each video
title set includes plural titles, wherein the number of the
recordable video title sets on the recording medium are limited;
and a second step of recording the information and the management
information on the recording medium; wherein in the second step,
when the information is recorded on the recording medium in
accordance with a maximum limitation on the number of the video
title sets and the titles that can be managed on the recording
medium, the video camera makes the information of one scene
recorded on the recording medium correspond to the chapter and
makes the number of the recordable scenes on the recording medium
be more than the maximum number of the video title sets and the
titles, wherein the information of one scene corresponding to the
chapter comprises information recorded from a single recording
start instruction to a single recording stop instruction, the
recorded chapters are not allocated to any video title set until a
finalization process is performed in response to a single
finalization instruction from a user, and the number of chapters in
each of the video title sets is determined and, based on a number
of information recorded on the recording medium from a single
recording start to a single recording stop during said finalization
process, such that the number of chapters is greater than or equal
to a maximum number of the video title sets which are able to be
recorded on the recording medium, and the chapter is subdivided
from the title, wherein the information of one scene is made to
correspond to the chapter when the information of one scene is
recorded on the recording medium.
5. The information recording method of a video camera according to
claim 4, wherein in the second step, when the amount of the
information upon reception of a recording stop instruction is
smaller than an integral multiple of a specified recording unit for
the recording medium, the information is recorded in alignment to
adjust the amount of information to an integral multiple of the
specified recording unit for the recording medium.
6. The information recording method of a video camera according to
claim 4, wherein in the first step, a plurality of chapters of
information recorded on the same date is managed as one title.
7. The information recording method of a video camera according to
claim 4, wherein: the recording medium is an optical disk, and in
the first step, the management information is generated such that
an amount of information recorded on the optical disk from one
recording start to one recording stop is greater than a maximum
size of the video title set recorded on the optical disk.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technology for recording or
reproducing information from a recording medium.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, there is known a technology for recording and
processing information by using magnetic tape such as a VCR (Video
Cassette Recorder).
There is also known a technology for recording information on
disk-shaped information recording media such as a CD-RW (Compact
Disc--ReWritable) and a DVD-RAM (Digital Versatile Disc--Random
Access Memory) instead of on the magnetic tape.
The VCR records information sequentially on magnetic tape. Since
intended information also needs to be reproduced sequentially, an
information access speed is slow. By contrast, when information is
recorded on disk-shaped information recording media such as CD-RW
and DVD-RAM, they can provide a so-called random access to
reproduce intended information immediately. The CD-RW and the
DVD-RAM are characterized by a faster information access speed than
the VCR.
In recent years, products on the market include a DVD recorder that
digitally records videos captured through TV broadcasting and line
input on a write-once DVD. The DVD recorder manages a video
recorded on a recording medium based on a management unit called a
video title set from the beginning to the end of a single recording
operation.
FIG. 1 shows a data structure of a recording medium 101. According
to this data structure, video title sets increase for the number of
recorded videos such as video title set #1 (102), video title set
#2 (103), . . . , and video title set #N (104). At this time, video
title set #1 (102), video title set #2 (103), . . ., and video
title set #N (104) correspond to title #1 (105), title #2 (106), .
. . , and title #N (107) one to one, respectively. Further, each
title is subdivided into units like chapter #1 (108), chapter #2
(109), . . . , and chapter #M (110) for management. For example, a
chapter is increased each time the recording time exceeds five
minutes, FIG. 2 shows a more detailed data structure. The data
structure in FIG. 2 is configured on the recording medium 301
according to a finalization process. Information recorded on the
recording medium 301 is managed by one video manager 302 and video
title set #1 (303), video title set #2 (304), . . . , and video
title set #L (305).
The video manager 302 comprises video manager information 306, a
video manager menu video object set 307, and a video manager
information backup 308. The video manager information 306 is used
to manage the entire information recorded on the recording medium
301. The video manager menu video object set 307 is used to display
a menu screen for reproducing information recorded on a recording
medium 301. The video manager information backup 308 is backup
information for the video manager information 306.
Each video title set comprises video title set information 309, a
video title set menu video object set 310, a video title set video
object set 311, and a video title set information backup 312. The
video title set information 309 manages the entire of one video
title set. The video title set information 309 is used to manage
information in units of titles or chapters as shown in FIG. 1. The
video title set menu video object set 310 provides information for
reproducing a menu screen used to reproduce information within one
video title set. The video title set video object set 311 is an AV
stream of the recorded video, i.e., the information itself. The
video title set information backup 312 is backup information of
video object set information.
The video manager menu video object set 307 and the video title set
menu video object set 310 may or may not be configured on the
recording medium.
The above-mentioned recording system must create and record
information about a video title set each time the recording
terminates. Accordingly, a process to terminate the recording
becomes time-consuming. Further, there is a limitation on the
number of video title sets and titles (up to 99) that can be
created on the recording medium. This also limits the number of
times of recording operations. As a result, there may be a case
where just a half of the recordable capacity is consumed on the
recording medium even if the number of operations allowed for
recording is reached. Consequently, there is a possibility of
ineffectively using recording areas on the recording medium.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide an information
recording technology capable of shortening the termination process
time when the recording ends. Another object of the present
invention is to provide an information recording technology capable
of recording independently of limitations due to the maximum number
of video title sets and titles.
The present invention can save time for creating a video title set
at the end of recording, thus shortening the recording termination
time. Further, the present invention can increase the number of
times for recording information signals, making it possible to
effectively use recording areas on a recording medium.
In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present
invention uses the following technology in one preferred
aspect.
Information is recorded on a recording medium according to
recording instructions such as a recording start instruction and a
recording stop instruction. During a finalization process,
management information is generated and is recorded on the
recording medium. Based on this management information, the
information generated by a single recording instruction is managed
as one chapter. At least one chapter is managed as one title. All
of the information comprising at least one title on the recording
medium is managed as one video title set.
Other and further objects, features and advantages of the invention
will appear more fully from the following description.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 shows an example of a data structure comprising video title
sets, titles, and chapters;
FIG. 2 shows a data structure configured on a recording medium;
FIG. 3 shows an example of a data structure comprising a video
title set, titles, and chapters;
FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an outline of an information
recording/reproducing apparatus;
FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing part of the information
recording/reproducing apparatus in detail;
FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing operations of the information
recording/reproducing apparatus after it is turned on; and
FIG. 7 shows the chapter arrangement in a video title set.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
An embodiment of the present invention will be described in further
detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 3 shows a data structure on a recording medium where
information signals are recorded according to the embodiment of the
present invention. Information is recorded so that it can be
managed as one chapter from the start to the end of one recording
operation. The data structure is configured to manage all the
information recorded on a recording medium 201 as one video title
set #1 (202). The video title set #1 (202) is subdivided into title
#1 (203), title #2 (204), . . . , and title #N (205). One title is
configured to bundle a plurality of chapters like chapter #1 (206),
chapter #2 (207), . . . , and chapter #M (208). Various rules are
available for bundling titles. For example, one title may comprise
a plurality of chapters recorded on the same day. Alternatively,
one title may comprise the specified number of chapters (e.g. 99
chapters).
Recording information in this manner can save time for creating a
video title set at the end of recording, thus shortening the
recording termination time for the time saved. Further, it becomes
possible to record information more often than the limitation of
the number of video title sets or titles (up to 99).
Conventionally, as mentioned above, a single recording operation
from the beginning to the end (called a scene) is managed as one
video title set. In addition, one video title set corresponds to
one title for management. Scenes that can be recorded are
restricted to the number of video title sets and titles (e.g. 99)
per recording medium. According to the embodiment, however, one
scene corresponds to one chapter. A title comprises a plurality of
chapters. Moreover, a plurality of recorded titles is managed as
one video title set as a whole. Even if there is a limitation on
the number of titles as mentioned above, the number of recordable
scenes per recording medium will be equivalent to the limitation on
the number of titles (99) multiplied by the limitation on the
number of chapters (e.g. 99). Scenes can be recorded for the number
of times exceeding the number of titles.
FIG. 4 shows a schematic block diagram of an information
recording/reproducing apparatus 1200 according to the present
invention. The information recording/reproducing apparatus 1200 is
equivalent to a stationary apparatus as typified by a DVD recorder
capable of recording TV programs and the like. The information
recording/reproducing apparatus 1200 records information supplied
from an input terminal 1229 on the recording medium 201. The
information recording/reproducing apparatus 1200 reproduces
information recorded on the recording medium 201 to output it from
an information signal output terminal 1128.
A signal detected by an optical pickup 1118 is sent to a servo
signal generation circuit 1119 and an information signal
reproduction circuit 1120. The servo signal generation circuit 1119
generates a focusing control signal and a tracking control signal
appropriate to an optical disk 201 from these detected signals.
Based on these signals, an actuator drive circuit 1121 drives an
objective lens actuator in the optical pickup 1118 to control
objective lens positions. The information signal reproduction
circuit 1120 reproduces information recorded on the optical disk
201 from the detected signal. The reproduced information is output
to the information signal output terminal 1128. Part of signals
obtained from the servo signal generation circuit 1119 and the
information signal reproduction circuit 1120 is sent to a system
control circuit 1122.
A recording information signal conversion circuit 1124 converts
information supplied from the input terminal 1229 to an AV stream.
The AV stream is sent to the system control circuit 1122 and is
converted to a laser drive recording signal. The laser drive
recording signal drives a laser beam source lighting circuit 1123
to control the laser intensity and records information on an
optical disk 201 via the optical pickup 1118.
The system control circuit 1122 connects with an access control
circuit 1125 and a spindle motor drive circuit 1126 which
respectively control access direction positions of the optical
pickup 1118 and rotations of a spindle motor 1127 of the optical
disk 201. The information recording/reproducing apparatus 1200 is
supplied with power from a power supply circuit 1250 that processes
power supplied from a commercial power source.
A user input processing unit 1151 can be used to issue instructions
for recording and reproduction. A display processing unit 1152 can
display information reproduced from the recording medium 201 or
supplied from the input terminal 1229.
There may be a case where the information recording/reproducing
apparatus 1200 is a portable apparatus as typified by a DVD camera.
In such case, after an image is picked up optically, a camera
signal processing circuit (not shown) converts an information
signal to an electrical signal. The converted signal is supplied to
the recording information signal conversion circuit 1124. Power is
supplied from a battery instead of the power supply circuit
1250.
The information recording/reproducing apparatus 1200 itself can
reproduce information recorded on the recording medium even if a
so-called finalization process is not performed.
FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing part of the information
recording/reproducing apparatus 1200 in detail.
In FIG. 5, an AV stream processing unit 402 corresponds to the
recording information signal conversion circuit 1124. A management
information processing unit 403 and a control unit 407 constitute
part of the system control circuit 1122 in FIG. 4. A recording
medium drive processing unit 404 corresponds to the optical pickup
1118, the laser beam source lighting circuit 1123, the servo signal
generation circuit 1119, the information signal reproduction
circuit 1120, the access control circuit 1125, the spindle motor
drive circuit 1126, the system control circuit 1122, etc. in FIG.
4. An operation unit 408 corresponds to the user input processing
unit 1151.
The AV stream processing unit 402 encodes information output from
the input terminal 1229. The recording medium drive processing unit
404 writes the coded information as an AV stream to the recording
medium 201. On a movie apparatus or a stationary video recorder, an
AV stream is written to the recording medium 201 during the
beginning to the end of recording. This AV stream is written once.
A segment from the beginning to the end of a single recording
session is defined as one chapter.
During recording, the AV stream processing unit 402 transmits
information to the management information processing unit 403. At
the end of recording, the management information processing unit
403 creates intermediate management information. The recording
medium drive processing unit 404 writes the intermediate management
information to the recording medium 201.
This intermediate management information is written once each time
the recording terminates. The operation unit 408 sends information
about the beginning or end of recording to the control unit 407.
The control unit 407 centrally controls each block in a portion 406
enclosed in a dotted line in FIG. 5.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing operations of the information
recording/reproducing apparatus 1200 after it is turned on. The
following description assumes that the operations according to the
flowchart are performed under control of the system control circuit
1122 (especially the control unit 407).
After the power is turned on, it is determined whether or not the
recording medium drive processing unit 404 initializes the
recording medium 201 (step S501). If the recording medium 201 is
not initialized, the display processing unit 1152 displays a prompt
to determine whether to perform the initialization (step S502). If
the user input processing unit 1151 chooses not to perform the
initialization, no information signal can be recorded on the
recording medium 201. All the subsequent processes terminate (step
S503). If the user input processing unit 1151 chooses to perform
the initialization, the display processing unit 1152 displays a
message indicating that no information can be recorded on the other
apparatuses after the initialization (step S504). After the
recording medium 201 is initialized (step S505), control returns to
step S501.
If it is determined at step S501 that the recording medium is
initialized, control proceeds to step S506. It is determined
whether or not the user input processing unit 1151 issues a
recording start instruction. If the recording start instruction is
issued, the recording medium drive processing unit 404 records an
AV stream (information) encoded in the AV stream processing unit
402 on the recording medium 201 (step S507) until the user input
processing unit 1151 issues a recording stop instruction. When the
recording stop (end) instruction is issued (step S508), the
recording medium drive processing unit 404 stops recording
information. The management information processing unit 403
generates intermediate management information for managing recorded
AV streams. The recording medium drive processing unit 404 records
this intermediate management information on the recording medium
201 (step S509), then returns control to step S501. The recording
is performed so that information recorded from a recording start
instruction to a recording stop instruction can be managed as one
chapter.
FIG. 7 shows the chapter arrangement on the recording medium 201.
In this example, recording start/stop instructions are issued to
record the information three times to record three chapters. The
information is recorded so that no gap occurs between chapter #1
(1001) and chapter #2 (1002). Likewise, information is recorded so
that no gap occurs between chapter #2 (1002) and chapter #3 (1003).
In order to leave no gap between chapters, they need to be recorded
in alignment with each other so that the size of each chapter
becomes an integral multiple of a specified unit for recording on
the recording medium. On an optical disk, for example, dummy
information is recorded so that the chapters can be aligned in
units of ECC blocks (32 kilobytes). The size of each chapter is
adjusted to an integral multiple of the specified recording unit to
generate no gap between the chapters. When the information is
recorded so as to leave no gap between chapters, it can be normally
reproduced also on a read-only apparatus.
If it is determined that the recording start instruction is issued
at step S506, control proceeds to step S510. It is determined
whether or not the user input processing unit 1151 issues a source
picture resolution change instruction. If the source picture
resolution change instruction is issued, the recording medium drive
processing unit 404 determines whether or not the recording medium
201 already records information (step S511). If no information is
recorded, the system control circuit 1122 changes the resolution to
a source picture resolution specified from the user input
processing unit 1151 (step S512), and then returns control to step
S501. If information is recorded, the display processing unit 1152
displays a message indicating that the source picture resolution
cannot be changed (step S513), and then returns control to step
S501. This is because one video title set cannot manage information
signals with different source picture resolutions.
If it is determined that the source picture resolution change
instruction is not issued at step S510, control proceeds to step
S514. It is determined whether or not the user input processing
unit 1151 issues a finalization process instruction. If no
finalization process instruction is issued, control returns to step
S501. If the finalization process instruction is issued, a
finalization process is performed by executing steps S515 through
S517 (step S515). The subsequent operations are terminated (step
S516).
Performing the finalization process at step S515 constructs the
data structure as shown in FIG. 2. Specifically, the process
generates management information and menu screen information for
reproduction, and then records these pieces of information on the
recording medium 201. As mentioned above, it is obvious that the
embodiment generates only one video title set.
The management information is equivalent to the video manager
information 306, the backup for video manager information 308, the
video title set information 309, and the video title set
information backup 312 in FIG. 2. The menu screen information for
reproduction is equivalent to the video manager menu video object
set 307 and the video title set menu video object set 310 in FIG.
2.
The management information is created based on the intermediate
management information recorded on the recording medium at the end
of recording. As shown in FIG. 3, the recorded AV stream is
configured to be one video title set #1 (202). One scene from the
beginning to the end of the recording is allocated to a chapter.
Chapters are foldered according to the same date to form a title.
When the number of chapters on the same date reaches a specified
value, e.g. 99, these chapters are united to a title.
The foregoing invention has been described in terms of preferred
embodiments. However, those skilled, in the art will recognize that
many variations of such embodiments exist. Such variations are
intended to be within the scope of the present invention and the
appended claims.
* * * * *